Page 50 of Lifebound

He didn’t answer, only moved so fast he was right beside me as if he’d materialized out of thin air. I pretended not to be surprised or startled and just kept my eyes ahead on the town we were headed for. The sun had already peeked over the horizon in the distance and the sky had taken on a gorgeous blue color, and the lights in the town called the Neutral Lands had turned off while we’d been busy arguing.

“How many people live on this continent?” I asked. The hill was steep, and we were walking fast, pulled by gravity. It took more effort to keep a slower pace than to give in to the pull.

“Roughly three million.”

“Holy shit,” I said. That was less than Oregon. “And how big is Verenthia?”

“Big enough,” the asshole said. “But the distance we’ll need to cover to get to the Seelie Court is roughly eight hundred miles.”

Fuck.That was a lot of miles. “And we’re going straight ahead?” Because now that I’d calmed down, I was trying to think of ways to get to the prince faster. Fourteen days was far too long. I’d promised Dad and Fi and Betty eight.

“No.”

That’s it.That’s all he said—no.No explanation, no nothing.

I looked at him, looked at his profile, his ivory skin that looked like porcelain in the sunlight, his hair that took on a hint of golden hue.

I said nothing because it was very hard to speak when the ground seemed intent on making you fall, and it was easier to start jogging because I was sweating trying to keep a walking pace. Rune followed, moving so gracefully, like his feet were gliding on the grass, while mine slammed against it in a very messy way. I never had a problem with being clumsy until I saw this guy move.

But five minutes later, we reached the bottom of the hill, and I was breathing like I’d been running an entire marathon, wishing I’d gone to the gym like I’d planned two years ago.

Because as soon as the ground beneath my feet was flat, I stopped with my hands on my knees and it took me a good while to catch my breath, to get my heartbeat to calm down. I was a sweaty mess, and I was completely dehydrated, and I was starving.

I looked up to find Rune standing some ten feet away, shoulder resting on one of the few trees in front of me that could have been an oak if its leaves were only green, with a look on his face that could very well mean he wasdisgusted.

Suddenly self-conscious about how I’d been about to die just now from having tojog—on a decline—for five minutes, I straightened up and wiped my forehead, and tried to act like I was perfectly okay. I pushed my hair back—the back of my neck was so wet—and didn’t even flinch at how good it felt when a little air hit my skin and cooled it down.

“So, um…” Fuck, I still couldn’t breathe properly without stopping to suck in shallow breaths.

And the guy kept on watching me like that with his arms crossed and his brows slightly raised.

This wasnotgoing the way it was supposed to at all.

“Water,” I finally choked because fuck him. I wasn’t trying tolook goodin front of him!

Actually, I was, but Icouldn’tright now,so to hell with it.

“I need water, and I need food.”

Yes, he most definitely hated my guts, and I could tell simply by the way he turned around without a word and continued walking between the trees toward the buildings in the distance.

* * *

It was a town.It had houses and buildings mostly made out of white stone, but some were wooden, too. Only a few with brown bricks. I was still breathing a bit heavier, though we’d walked to that first building in silence, Rune ahead and me a few feet behind. I really did need water—my very soul was parched, and my limbs were shaking, too, from lack of energy.

Yet when we walked alongside the first wide building that marked the edge of this town, I forgot all about food and water for a little while.

No people, which made sense because it was still early. And the lights seemed to still be on everywhere, except they weren’t lightbulbs. They were that same glowy liquid trapped in what could have been balls made out of thin glass, some golden and some silver, hanging onto the edges of buildings and atop doors and windows.

I knew how big this place was because I’d seen it from up the hill—the hill that seemed to stretch all the way to the sides, too, when I looked back—but I still couldn’t help but imagine it the same size as Lavender Hill. That place was all I really knew.

There was no rhyme or reason to the way the buildings were constructed. They stood corner to corner and front to front, some doors huge and some that came up to my hips only, which made me wonder, and made my heart beat faster with every new step we took.

Until we heard a sound—something like a call, but it must have come from machinery, I thought.

The next second, Rune grabbed me by the arm and pushed me to the side and slammed us both against the stone wall of a two-story building. My heart all but flew out my ribcage. I looked down and his arm was over me, right below my boobs, his forearm touching them, pushing them up. His eyes were on me, and right now he didn’t look disgusted. He just lookedcalculatingas he took in every single one of my features slowly, like he was trying to commit me to memory.

Then he said, “Don’t move until I come back.”

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